thought I was a fool. I told him that I -- He told me that the Post was going to
support him, and of course he had no compunctions about doing what he was doing. And Phil
and Jack were very, very close. But Phil did tell me that Kennedy couldn't understand why I
was refusing to join with them on the weekend. They were going to plan the campaign. You
know, this is crazy. Here I was supposed to be in a neutral position, being sucked into the --
And I don't think it was designed to co-opt me. I think it was just Phil trying to say, Here's a
guy that might be useful to you in terms of what he knows, both of government and of politics
and public relations, and why don't we take him along with us? So I missed that chance.

Q:

Was your mind changed by the debates? I mean, were you aware at the end of the first
debate that Kennedy would have a good shot at winning?

Stanton:

No. When I went to see -- when I finally got to John Pastore, persuaded him to
introduce the resolution for temporary relief under Section 315, that grew out of testimony
that I had had before his committee, in which --

Q:

His committee was what?

Stanton:

The subcommittee of the commerce committee in the Senate. And it was the
subcommittee on communications. Warren [G.] Magnuson was the chairman of the main
committee. John Pastore was the chairman of the subcommittee. And they were having
hearings about providing time for the candidates, free time. Adlai Stevenson, I think, had
proposed legislation which would have taken -- I'm not sure whether it was eight or nine
hours of free time for the candidates to use as they wished. I was dead set against that and I
think in the hearing -- and I could be confusing two different hearings -- but I think at the